Many candidates believe that an interview is an opportunity to demonstrate their past achievements, skills and fit for a position. So a lot of their statements start with the word 'I'. That’s all good and fine, and I’m not saying you shouldn't tout your achievements. But that’s what everyone does, and remember that your job in an interview is to separate yourself from other candidates. The way to do this is to use the word ‘we’ when referring to your past achievements and also when talking about the job you’re applying for. Here are two reasons why:
Reason 1: 'I' is a business or social climber word. 'We' is a leadership word. When you use the word ‘we’ when talking about your past accomplishments, you’re telling your interviewer that you understand the potency of team and your role within it. You’re also showing him that you’re leadership material because you already understand that it’s not about you – even in a situation, like an interview, where most people act like it is all about them (and do so by continually using the word ‘I’). This is a very attractive quality in a candidate because it tells the actual leader of the department (generally your interviewer) that you’re going to fit beautifully into his team.
Reason 2: Great candidates will try and find ways to insert the word ‘we’ when speaking about a future state with their interviewers. It’s a very subtle thing, but it can be very effective, because subconsciously you’re taking your interviewer on a journey that involves you working for his company.
Say your interviewer wants you to answer a question about how you would solve a problem for his company. i.e. “What would you do in this situation?” By answering in a way that brings him and his company into the answer you’re getting him to visualize you already working there.
Check out the difference between these two similar, yet fundamentally different answers:
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
See the difference? You’re already painting a picture in the interviewer’s mind of you working with the team. In fact I can see you working there already! The word ‘we’ and ‘our’ are excellent words to use throughout your interview. Always remember that ‘we’ is always stronger and more influential than ‘I’.
Reason 2: Great candidates will try and find ways to insert the word ‘we’ when speaking about a future state with their interviewers. It’s a very subtle thing, but it can be very effective, because subconsciously you’re taking your interviewer on a journey that involves you working for his company.
Say your interviewer wants you to answer a question about how you would solve a problem for his company. i.e. “What would you do in this situation?” By answering in a way that brings him and his company into the answer you’re getting him to visualize you already working there.
Check out the difference between these two similar, yet fundamentally different answers:
Scenario 1
- Interviewer: “How would you create a go-to-market plan for this country?”
- You: “I would leverage the resources that I would acquire internally, like market data and role personas. I’d speak to your customers who have a similar business model and glean insights that I could use to create an action plan. Then I’d compare my action plan to previous plans that had been developed and see what lessons I could learn from them….”
Scenario 2
- Interviewer: “How would you create a go-to-market plan for this country?”
- You: “I would leverage the resources that we’ve already acquired internally, like market data and role personas. I’d speak to our customers who have a similar business model and glean insights that our team could use to create an action plan. Then we could compare our action plan to previous plans we’ve developed and see what lessons we had learned in the past….”
See the difference? You’re already painting a picture in the interviewer’s mind of you working with the team. In fact I can see you working there already! The word ‘we’ and ‘our’ are excellent words to use throughout your interview. Always remember that ‘we’ is always stronger and more influential than ‘I’.
